Wyrdcraft: Healing Self & Nature through the Mysteries of the Fates

by Matthew Ash McKernan

Overview

Weaving Germanic Paganism with mysticism, magic, and his background as a transpersonal therapist, Matthew Ash McKernan introduces you to wyrd, a mysterious web of being that connects everything. Wyrd encompasses all organisms, ecosystems, matter, phenomena, purposes, and possibilities. It is destiny, nature, soul, magic, and mystery intertwined.

In Wyrdcraft, McKernan guides you through a process of attuning to wyrd as it manifests within all the domains of your life, teaching you how to sense and intuit the ways of wyrd more clearly than ever before. Exploring the intersections of psychotherapy, ecotherapy, Heathenry, and magic, this contemplative and experiential book offers nearly fifty exercises to help you cultivate wyrd consciousness—an awareness that is naturally revealing, healing, transformative, and becoming. Becoming what, you may ask? You will see as you align with the wisdom of wyrd, heal yourself and our interconnected world, and remember the nature of your Higher Self.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738771779
Publisher:	Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Publication date:	01/08/2023
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	244,944
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Matthew Ash McKernan, LMFT, is a licensed psychotherapist, ecotherapist, bard, naturalist, and wyrdworker. He has degrees in anthropology and counseling psychology and loves to spend time at the crossroads where psyche, nature, magic, and healing intersect. You can visit his website at www.WyrdWildWeb.com.

Table of Contents

Contents

Wyrding Ways: List of Experientials and Exercises xvii

Introduction: Welcome to the Gates of Wyrd 1

Part I: What Is Wyrd?
Chapter 1: Wyrd History, Etymology, and Culture 13
Chapter 2: Weaving and Fate in Myth 25
Chapter 3: Wyrd Science 35

Part II: The Web of Wyrd
Chapter 4: Mind and Body 49
Chapter 5: Relationship and Environment 63
Chapter 6: Soul and Spirit 81
Chapter 7: The Fragmentation of the Web 103

Part III: Wyrdcraft
Chapter 8: Integration and Wyrdcraft 127
Chapter 9: The Mysteries of the Well: Psychetherapy 149
Chapter 10: The Mysteries of the Tree: Ecotherapy and Nature Worship 179
Chapter 11: The Mysteries of the Fates: Magic 207
Chapter 12: The Northern Magic of Seiðr 235
Chapter 13: Weaving It All Together 255

Glossary of Heathen Terms 267

Resources and Organizations 273

Bibliography 275

E-Sources 283

Index 285

Editorial Reviews

"Soulfully conceived, beautifully written, and undergirded with solid psychotherapeutic and philosophical knowledge, this book is rich with treasures for healing and enhancing our lived experience of the Worlds at all levels, natural, social, and spiritual. McKernan's goal is to guide Heathens, Pagans and Animists into 'a process that leads ever more and more to an experience of wholeness.'...He succeeds admirably; this book is highly recommended. The beauty of its writing and its vision is truly inspirational."—Winifred Hodge Rose, author of Heathen Soul Lore Foundations and Heathen Soul Lore: A Personal Approach

"We are living through tough, scary, and disturbing times...Wyrdcraft spins a positive web on how to be with it all in a way that grows us, enlightens us, and strengthens the way for us to show up and meet the challenges skillfully...This is an uplifting book but one that does not shy away from facing the dark forces, the shadow. Far from it, Matthew takes us deeper in through practical, experiential exercises [that teach us] to befriend and work with these forces, transforming them into service for the good. Nature wisdom, shamanic wisdom, indigenous wisdom, magic wisdom, are all shared in an entertaining way for attainment of higher states of consciousness...My hope is you take time to read this book and see how it might inspire you to greater awareness and ownership of the transformational powers that are available to us all when we know how to open, look for, and respectfully use them."—Dr. Tom Pinkson, author of The Shamanic Wisdom of the Huichol

"The ambition of Wyrdcraft is epic. If you commit to the book's arc and respond to McKernan's bold view of the world, you may literally never see the world the same way again. The author's mission is first to connect us to the feeling of being held by the invisible web of wyrd. Once we are held, we can begin to heal ourselves. Healing ourselves is the first step toward healing relationships, which leads to healing society, which leads to healing the planet."—Spirituality & Health magazine

From the Publisher